Page 134 of Bonds of Obsession

“Say… say you had a gun,” Atlas offers. “Say she didn’t expect it because she thought you were too weak to be armed.”

“That’ll work,” Killian nods. “He’ll believe you’d be pathetic enough to pull a gun on an unarmed woman.”

I grab Emmett’s phone from where it’s sitting on the table and hold it up to his face. “Call him. And remember, one wrong word, one hint that something’s off, and Killian gets to play with his knife.”

“Wait,” Emmett swallows hard. “What if he wants proof? That I really have her?”

“You’ll ‘knock me out’ and send a picture,” I say. “But we do the call first. We need to make sure he’s even interested before we get to that part.”

“He’ll be interested,” Atlas growls. “The bastard is obsessed with destroying everything you have, vicious.”

“Just like our little rat helped him do,” Nico adds.

Emmett swallows hard again, then nods. I take a seat, and after Killian carefully binds my wrists in case we need to send proof, Nico puts the phone on speaker and dials the number.

My stomach clenches when Ambrose answers. Just hearing his voice makes hatred burn in my chest.

“What?” Ambrose snaps into the phone.

Emmett clears his throat. “I’ve got something you want.” His voice is steady enough, I’ll give him that. “Quinn Kent. I caught her trying to come after me.”

There’s a long pause, and I hold my breath. Then Ambrose laughs. “Well, well. It seems like you might be useful after all.”

“She tracked me down,” Emmett continues, following our script. “She was screaming about what you did to Atlas. The bitch wasn’t thinking straight.”

Just like Emmett to get his digs in when he knows I can’t do anything about it. That’s okay. He’ll still pay.

“And you managed to subdue her?” Ambrose sounds skeptical. “The same woman who has been running Enigma?”

“I had my gun ready. She didn’t expect it. She thought I was too soft to be armed.”

Another pause. “Send me proof.”

I nod at Emmett, and Killian presses the knife harder against his throat. “She’s knocked out cold. I can send a picture.”

“Do it,” Ambrose commands. “Now.”

Killian pulls the knife back just enough to let Emmett move. I slump in the chair, letting my head loll forward like I’m unconscious. Atlas takes the picture with Emmett’s phone, making sure to get my bound hands in the shot.

“Okay, I’m sending it now,” Emmett says after Atlas gives him the nod.

We wait in tense silence. I can hear Ambrose’s breathing on the other end of the line.

“Where are you?” he finally asks.

“I’m holed up in a motel room. I wasn’t sure where I should take her, but I wanted to give you first dibs.”

“Bring her to the river. You know the spot where we met before?” There’s something sickeningly eager in Ambrose’s voice. “Be there in one hour.”

“I’ll be there.”

The call ends and I straighten up with my heart pounding twice as fast as before. This is it. This is my chance to end the bastard who has been haunting my life, who forced me to join the Dark Lotus Syndicate, who tried to break me by taking Atlas.

I meet each of my men’s eyes, seeing the same deadly determination reflected back at me. We’re really doing this.

“If this goes wrong,” Atlas starts, but I cut him off.

“It won’t,” I say firmly. “Because you three have my back. And that’s all I need.”

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